A British-owned American base on an island in the Indian Ocean received prior warning of the tsunami from the US, the Guardian has established.

Unlike countries devastated by the huge wave, the military base on Diego Garcia was alerted by America’s tsunami warning centre on Hawaii in the Pacific.

That didn’t take long, only two paras into the piece and the lies surface. Thailand’s Meteorological Department received a warning but debated the possible impact on the countries tourist industry, and then sat on their collective asses. (The Scotsman also covers the story).

Both Thailand and Indonesia are member states covered by the International Tsunami Warning Center (member list and graphic map here). We know why Thailand failed to act, the almighty tourist buck, but what of Indonesia? With the tsunami producing quake less than 100 miles from it’s coastline the resulting wave raced across the Indian Ocean at speeds of up to 400mph giving 15 minutes, or less, lead time. It’s doubtful the warning they most assuredly received thru the system would have been effective even if acted on. (UPDATE: here is a report confirming the warning was issued 16 minutes after the quake) (UPDATE II:More evidence Thailand received warnings, at least and hour before the first wave. The report quotes the officer on duty at the time the e-mail was sent as saying he did not think of the waves because he was an earthquake specialist. Some SPECIALIST!)

As for the rest of the effected countries, not being part of the system obviously hampered the individual governments ability to react and mitigate the disaster. But who’s fault is that? Certainly not the US who started the warning system for Pacific Ocean based earthquake activity, not the Indian Ocean. The fact the center issued no warning was the correct response, the threat didn’t exsist in the Pacific.

The Guardian goes on to quote Professor Michel Chossudovsky of Ottawa University:

Prof Chossudovsky, who helps run the centre for research on globalisation, added: “We are not dealing with information based on ocean sensors. The emergency warning was transmitted in the immediate wake of the earthquake based on seismic data.” With modern communications,”the information of an impending disaster could have been sent round the world in a matter of minutes, by email, by telephone, by fax, not to mention by satellite television”, he said.

That wouldn’t be entirely true, there are six deepwater tsunami detection buoys deployed in earthquake-prone areas off the Aleutians, the northwest coast of the U.S., and Chile.

It is no surprise the Guardian turned to Chossudovsky for this article, a quick review of this Global Research page turns up his paper on the tsunami that is filled with bias and anti-US sentiment. It also includes this quote from officials of the Pacific Warning Center in Hawaii that contradicts a Chossudovsky assertion that not enough was done to alert Asian countries:

We started thinking about who we could call. We talked to the State Department Operations Center and to the military. We called embassies. We talked to the navy in Sri Lanka, any local government official we could get hold of,” Hirshorn said. “We were fairly careful about who we called. We wanted to call people who could help.”

So it would appear Sri Lankian officials also were warned along with Thailand and most likely Indonesia. How many others were warned that has not been publicized as yet?

Chossudovsky then jumps the shark with this question: “Did US authorities monitoring seismographic data have knowledge of the earthquake prior to its actual occurrence at 00.57 GMT on the 26th of December?”

Chossudovsky who fails in his bid to completely clear the shark is eaten by this attempt:

Why is the US military Calling the Shots on Humanitarian Relief Why in the wake of the disaster, is the US military (rather than civilian humanitarian/aid organizations operating under UN auspices) taking a lead role?

The US Pacific Command has been designated to coordinate the channeling of emergency relief? Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Rusty Blackman, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, has been designated to lead the emergency relief program.

Lieutenant General Blackman was previously Chief of Staff for Coalition Forces Land Component Command, responsible for leading the Marines into Baghdad during “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

***

“Why is it necessary for the US to mobilize so much military equipment? The pattern is unprecedented:”

“Why has a senior commander involved in the invasion of Iraq been assigned to lead the US emergency relief program?”

Damm that Eeeevil Bush, ordering up a tsunami to assist in the invasion of Indonesia!

See shark, see moonbat attempt jump, see Guardian newspaper source, and the paper itself, be devoured by carnivorous fishes.

Both are recommended reads, and I would also recommend USS Neverdock as a daily read, Marc’s continued excellence in fisking the BBC is worth the stop.

UPDATE II: (09/12/05) Hey look! Another country, (and the world’s largest democracy to boot!) that got a tsunami warning: “Although India is not a formal partner in any of the warning networks that tracked the Boxing Day tsunami from its birth in a 9.0 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of Sumatra, press reports now confirm that the country was warned well in advance of the impending disaster but simply failed to react.

Multiple warnings were sent into India’s bureaucracy from multiple sources, but none triggered any kind of alarm.”

According to the Indian Express, Indian officials received at least an hour’s warning of the Boxing Day tsunami, but did not act properly in response. (More evidence here)